Clear victory in Fulda: Düsseldorf is in the Final Four

Borussia Düsseldorf has become the first team to punch its ticket to the Final Four of the German Table Tennis Cup: the record champion won its quarterfinal at TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3-0 on Friday night and will fight for the title in the Liebherr Cup Final on January 8, 2023.

Borussia Düsseldorf is in the Final Four for the fourth time in a row: With a 3-0 win at TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, the record champion of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) punched its ticket for the Liebherr Cup Final, which will be held as a Final Four tournament in the ratiopharm arena Ulm/Neu-Ulm on January 8, 2023. Tickets for the event are available here. The Fulda team, on the other hand, missed out on making it to the semifinals again after having made it to the tournament of the four best teams for the first time after a five-year absence in the preseason - where they ultimately also lost to perennial rival Düsseldorf in the semifinals.

"Of course we had wished for a clear victory, but of course we didn't expect it," Timo Boll said after the end of the match in the livestream on Spontent. Borussia coach Danny Heister explained, "That's how you want to enter the Final Four. That was the almost perfect performance. All players were fully there, took their task seriously and stayed focused the whole time."

3:0 games, 9:0 sets: Perfect evening for Borussia Düsseldorf

As in the cup semifinal in the previous season, Düsseldorf clearly showed the Fuldaers the limits. This time, the hosts did not even manage to win a set. After Dang Qiu had only allowed his opponent Alexandre Cassin a total of 14 points and won 3:0 (11:7, 11:3, 11:4), his teammates made it no less clear. Anton Källberg also made short work of Ruwen Filus in a 3:0 (11:3, 11:5, 11:7) win, and after the break Timo Boll also remained without losing a set in a 3:0 (11:5, 16:14, 11:6) win over Fanbo Meng. "Düsseldorf put the pressure on right away and played very strongly from the start," Filus said. "We have to check this off as quickly as possible and go full throttle again in the Bundesliga on Sunday."

Already next Sunday, November 13, both teams are again challenged in the TTBL: Düsseldorf will face TTC Neu-Ulm in the top match starting at 5 p.m., before that Fulda will take on TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau starting at 3 p.m.. All matches will be broadcast live on the Spontent channels on Twitch.

The cup quarterfinals in the overview

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – Borussia Düsseldorf 0:3
Alexandre Cassin – Dang Qiu 0:3 (7:11, 3:11, 4:11)
Ruwen Filus – Anton Källberg 0:3 (3:11, 5:11, 7:11)
Fanbo Meng – Timo Boll 0:3 (5:11, 14:16, 6:11)

TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 3:1
Simon Gauzy – Maciej Kubik 3:1 (11:13, 13:11, 11:7, 14:12)
Kanak Jha – Feng Yi-Hsin 3:2 (12:10, 9:11, 11:5, 5:11, 12:10)
Alvaro Robles – Patrick Baum 2:3 (6:11, 13:11, 11:8, 12:14, 7:11)
Simon Gauzy – Feng Yi-Hsin 3:1 (11:6, 4:11, 11:2, 11:9)

Sunday, November 13
1 p.m.: 1. FC Saarbrücken TT – ASV Grünwettersbach

Sunday, November 27
3 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – Post SV Mühlhausen